Apple’s MacWorld Announcements Without the Jargon

Apple’s Phil Schiller, on stage at MacWorld in San Francisco.
With CEO Steve Jobs’s must-publicized absence, Apple’s “Vice President of Demos” Phil Schiller held the keynote reigns to introduce a slew of new updated products to the Mac faithful. Translating the tech-talk, and sitting on the evangelical fence, here’s a breakdown of today’s highlights.

A new 17" MacBook Pro notebook computer, featuring the same design as the aluminum models introduced late last year.

People will love: The beautiful large-screen real estate; the solid-build body; and the $50 optional matte screen.

People will hate: The non-removable battery; size envy; paying $50 extra for the matte screen; and the fact that owners of 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks can’t get a matte screen.

Our verdict: It’s the QM2 of portable computers, with lightning-fast internals and a stunning high-defintion screen. We can live with the removable battery since it’s more economical (less landfill) and the extra size garnered by enclosing it squeezes a solid eight hours of battery life on a single charge—more than enough keep us busy when hopping the pond. If you’re torn between a desktop computer and a notebook, then this is the best of both worlds.

People will love: Automatic and “learning” facial recognition within your iPhoto library, creating the option of grouping your albums by person, and Facebook integration to share photos; iMovie’s motion-maps; and a new Garageband feature that helps you learn instruments with video lessons by bold-face musicians like Sting Sting and Norah Jones Norah Jones.

People will hate: The embarrassing photos the facial recognition will dig up; and their inability to learn the newest Fallout Boy song.

Our verdict: A worthy update, worth the $79 charge (though free with all new Macs), and the ability to make our own *Indiana Jones–*esque red-line motion maps is too enticing to miss.

People will love: The new Keynote presentation transitions, spicing up your boring slides with iPod ad-like effects; and the beta of iWork.com, which is essentially Apple’s take on Google Docs, allowing you to share your files with others, collaborate, or continue to work on them from any Internet-connected computer.

People will hate: Numbers, Apple’s spreadsheet app, for it’s overly childlike name; and, as ever, making presentations, though that’s not Apple’s fault.

Our verdict: After iWork’s somewhat lackluster introduction in 2006, this is the first version to offer genuinely interesting features for the Internet age, and the addition of iWork.com confirms Apple’s increased interest in “cloud” computing.

People will love: Paying less for songs more than three years old (69¢, down from 99¢); and not having restrictions on usage and players.

People will hate: We can’t really find a downside, but one wonders if this will hinder the already slim chances of finally adding the Beatles catalog.

Our verdict: A welcome treat, and one that should open up the iTunes format to work with all types of third-party devices like Sony’s Playstation 3 and Tivo set-top boxes.

In summary, impressive new ideas and features overshadowed Jobs’s no-show, solidifying Apple’s resilience to economic downturns and their steadfast desire to innovate their way out of the this glum recession. On a final note, after a week of Internet attacks on the likes of Twitter and Facebook, the popular Web site MacRumors.com—a hub of many in the Apple community—suffered a severe and offensive attack today while covering the keynote presentation. This, coupled with last week’s news that the Mac’s market share has hit 10 percent, may mean that, from a mainstream perspective, the Mac has finally arrived.